Seven Mile throb (E5 6b) Cont'

The route pretty much follows the line of the biggest tree sapling in the bottom left of the picture, through the overlaps/roofs and onto the top section of the slab at the obvious stepped corner.

Some readers of my blog may remember this Post a few weeks backs about an E5 project at Fairy Cave Quarry. Well, curiosity got the better of me, and so i abseiled down the route to inspect the route at close hand. And how very pleased I had!

I wasn't worried about the top section. I knew that once I'm here then it's plain sailing and the route is in the bag. Well protected, easy climbing to the top. It was the roofs, overlaps and gear that I was worried about. On the inspection, I took numerous pictures and videos which I have gone through and re-watched over and over again, absorbing all the information that I could about the climb. Any way, below are a few pictures and  the info which I have gained. Enjoy.

The last overlap/roof before stepping up up onto the top slab. Protection here is poor or even non-existent. There is good gear below but this may still end in a painful ground fall.

Second to last Overlap/roof. Same as the above picture, and as you can see, the route suffers from seepage a little.

This is the top of the first overlap. The holds are sloping and the foot holds will be hard to stick if wet and slippery. Again, marginal and almost non-existent pro.

This is the top of a block protruding from the first roof. I managed to get a Wild Country Zero cam in the crack to the left of the picture and a pinch grip to the right of the pic.

This is the crack below the first roof that takes the First, and only, bomber bit of gear before the moves through the overlaps. this block does however have a jug up and to the left of it, and a vertical crack up and to the right which takes a small wire, but the holding power is questionable.

This is the jug to the left of the block of the picture above (The jug itself is the top of this flake). It is possible to fix some gear behind it but again, it's questionable about the effectiveness. 

My view of the steepness of the overlapping roof section.

And again. This time showing the vertical crack that is possible to fix a small wire or two in

A cam placement just above the jug

This is just a brief report on the information that I have gathered so far. But in a nutshell, the moves on the route appear to be very powerful and reachy, with the odd gymnastic, flexible move thrown in. A majority of the holds are fairly positive and not too small, but the positions in which you'll find yourself in will make them feel more strenuous and hard. Feet will be touch and go with a lot of attention spent on them. There are practically no positive foot holds. Mostly relying on smearing and the friction of the rock. Protection is a concern at the moment, until I return and have a more thorough inspection. At the moment, the only bomber pro is at the top of the easy slab, at the start of the roofs. A few suspect pieces can be placed around and higher up, but after this is a bit blurry. I think that the best thing to do here is not hang around looking for pro, but to power through until on the top slab.

In the mean time, I'll be returning to do the training routes and to gather more info about the climb.

Watch this space!